Burnout is one of the top reasons for entrepreneurial failure, and for good reason.

When we embark on the journey of building a startup we are fueled by desire and creativity. We have a vision for how the world can be improved, and we gather the courage to take enormous risks to pursue our dreams.

We know going in that entrepreneurship is a rollercoaster of uncertainty and risk, yet we heed the advice of self help gurus who tell us “don’t let fear stop you, just do it anyway.”

When you hear the word vulnerability, what immediately comes to mind? According to researcher Brene Brown, after six years of science and thousands of qualitative interviews, the majority of people believe that vulnerability is weakness.

It’s time for us to shatter that myth and step into the awareness that vulnerability is perhaps the greatest form of courage, as well as an essential ingredient to transformational breakthroughs.

All extraordinary innovations began with a powerful commitment. For Google, it was to “organize the world’s information.” For Apple, it was to “create a personal relationship between people and their computer.” As a startup founder, once you make a big commitment, you will inevitably face challenges that you need to overcome to follow through on your commitment. The question is “how are you currently meeting those challenges?”

The world is full of brilliant people with big ideas. The difference between the people who manifest their visions, and the people who don’t, is a simple yet powerful ability to recommit.

One reliable path to failure and burnout as an entrepreneur is to build your startup for the wrong reasons. We invite you to dig deeper into your real motivations for building your company. Not the motivations you tell investors and media, but the real reasons you have dedicated your life to your company.

A story about magical wedding ceremonies, mystical penis temples, past life healings, generosity, contentment, having tea with the king, and a synchronistic encounter with a venture capitalist. All perfectly designed to awaken the truth within me that as an entrepreneur, my one goal is to be of service to others.

These days Bhutan is best known for its choice to value GNH (Gross National Happiness) over GDP (Gross Domestic Product) as an indicator of the overall health and wellbeing of their country. Oddly more foreigners can reference GNH than locate Bhutan on a map.

After recently spending 10 days in Bhutan with my chosen family and attending the first ever Gross National Happiness conference, I can confidently share that the “G” driving GNH is Generosity. To illustrate this point, let me start by introducing four men who have fundamentally changed my perspective of what it means to be a human being. Their names are Dorji, Sumjay, Pema, and Neem.

No human being that is concerned about their public image would ever share some of these things.

The time had come for me to move on from working at my father’s American Express travel agency and step into my first major entrepreneurial venture - Showtime Aruba - that was a failure of epic proportions. I may need to find some evidence of this failure to convince you all that this story actually happened. Maybe the Showtime Aruba t-shirts that the homeless in Aruba are possibly still wearing, or my inclusion on the Aruban fugitive list would do the trick?

We exist as a company because entrepreneurs are changing our global landscape and culture like no other group of people have ever been capable of before. Imagine if the U.S. Government decided to build Facebook. Do you think the government would be able to connect the world and have 1.23 billion monthly active users 12 years later? Of course not...

The ability for each of us to pursue our unique passions and impact the world is one of the greatest gifts of the human experience. Whether you are building a technology startup fueled by venture capital, small business, non-profit, online information product, or you are an intrapreneur within a large organization, each of our unique gifts comes with great power, and it is important that we use this power consciously.

When people give you challenging feedback, do you show polite interest outwardly while holding onto your position or viewpoint? Or do you see every interaction with another person as an opportunity to learn, grow, and discover something new? Read on to find out where you sit on the scale.

Malachi Leopold, Founder of Trep Life, interviews Good Startups founder, Justin Milano to gain some deeper insights into what inspires Justin and the culture he helps to foster in the startups he coaches.

Q: What was the inspiration for Good Startups, and what is it all about?

Funny enough, I did not intend to create Good Startups. What happened was entrepreneurs began reaching out for business and leadership coaching. As I began supporting entrepreneurs, I realized how much I loved what I was doing. I began recognizing that entrepreneurs needed as much support with navigating the ups and downs of entrepreneurship as their business model. Thus, we have brought together a team of exceptional coaches to help entrepreneurs grow their self awareness, expand their leadership skills, and build thriving companies.

In our world where doing is applauded more than being we are drawn to the hamster wheel of activities. We think we have to DO more to be satisfied. So we design our life and business around day-to-day activities that put us on the “hamster wheel”, spinning in our day, but going nowhere.

Let’s get real, even if you worked 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, there would still be more to DO. It is our responsibility to be vigilant about what we literally choose to do and how we take care of ourselves.

Imagine a life where you are running a business, making an impact in the world, spending time with loved ones and growing as a human being. This is possible.